Modern ophthalmic lens processing systems comprise three main components: a robotic arm, a plurality of edging machines, and a host lab server to control the lens manufacturing operation. The robotic arm, the edging machines and the host lab server form what is known as a ophthalmic lens manufacturing “cell”. Typically, lenses arrive at the cell in trays which hold the lenses in a position such that their convex side is facing up. These trays are picked up by a robotic arm and brought to an edging machine, whereby the lenses are removed from the tray with the robotic arm and placed in the edging machine. When the edging operation is complete, the lenses are placed back in the tray and returned to a location outside of the cell for further processing and placement into lens frames.
The current manufacturing cells are deficient in several respects. First, while some robotic arms use suction cups connected to a vacuum source to lift the lenses from the tray, these suction cups are not of a compliant nature and cannot automatically adjust themselves depending on the thickness and/or curvature of a particular lens. Because of the dimensional limitations of the interior of an edging machine, the lack of a compliant pickup mechanism on a robotic arm prevents thicker lenses from being used with a robotic lens manufacturing cell, thus requiring manual labor to perform or assist with the edging process. Also, not having a complaint gripper mechanism increases the likelihood that a lens will be dropped by the robotic arm, which leads to lowered productivity. Thus there is a need for a compliant gripper mechanism that will accommodate various lenses through a compliant pick up mechanism.
Second, a typical manufacturing cell will have a robotic arm placed in the center of a plurality of lens edging machines. The openings of these machines are faced toward the robotic arm to provide easy access to the edgers by the robotic arm. However, if a lens becomes jammed within an edger, or if an edger requires maintenance, the inward-facing nature of the edging machines makes un-jamming the machine or performing maintenance on the machine a burdensome and time-consuming task. Thus, there is a need for a ophthalmic lens robotic manufacturing cell that will provide easy access to the edgers while maintaining an efficient manufacturing operation.
Third, because individual edging machines need to be replaced or serviced from time to time, it is necessary to remove edgers from the manufacturing cell periodically. However, heretofore, the removal of an edger has been a complicated task. Accordingly, there is a need for a simplified arrangement of holding an edger in place within a manufacturing cell that will allow for easier removal of the edging machine.
Fourth, due to the speed in which the robotic arm in an ophthalmic lens manufacturing cell moves, it is somewhat common that the lenses contained in the tray will periodically move out of their preset locations within the tray, which prevents the robotic arm from subsequently picking up the lens and placing it in an edging machine. Under such circumstances, the manufacturing cell, or a portion thereof, must be taken off line so that a human operator can reset the lenses in the tray and continue with the automated manufacturing process. Thus, there is a need for an ophthalmic lens manufacturing system that will lessen the chances that a lens will move out of its preset location within a tray.
Fifth, typically a host lab server will communicate with a robotic arm and the robotic arm will communicate with the edgers. This arrangement is not very efficient because allocating time for communication of a robot directly to the lab server which, in turn, must communicate the complete data regarding the particular ophthalmic lens to be manufactured (or edged) to each individual edger results in a greater total time of communication, thus resulting in lower throughput (i.e., capacity) of the manufacturing cell. Thus there is a need for a more efficient communication scheme between a host lab server, a robotic arm and an edging machine.
These and other needs will become more apparent upon a review of the specification, drawings and claims, set forth below.